Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have used a mix of charm and roguish coercion to let India know that he expected the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline proposal to become a reality in 45 days. But India is in no hurry to take a decision, a top Cabinet minister in the United Progressive Alliance government said.
Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had visited Pakistan last week in this connection. But today he told reporters outside Parliament: "Delivery (of the gas) is still an issue".
The high price of the gas was the reason India had cited earlier while objecting to the pipeline. That is no longer the only deciding factor. The volatile political environment in Iran and Pakistan has as much weightage now and the UPA government is becoming more reluctant to endorse the pipeline project.
This does not mean talks on the IPI pipeline will be halted. Instead, they will continue at different levels, the source, who is also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, said. But these will serve more to show that India was not buckling under Washington's pressure than signal any negotiating position on the pipeline itself. The United States administration has asked India not to join the project.
Topping the list of the political and security deterrents is the US threat of war against Iran. While the outgoing US President George W Bush has often spoken about military action against Iran, those seeking to lay a claim to his chair have also talked tough on the issue.
Hillary Clinton recently remarked: "I want the Iranians to know that if I am the president, we will attack Iran...In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."
The government is uneasy about all these statements. "If there is a war and the US blows up the pipeline project, what will happen to our investment? It is not a matter of a few dollars billions of dollars of government money is involved. How can we take such a risk?"
And although Pakistan has an elected government in place, the top leadership of the UPA government favours more time to see how things settle down in Pakistan. The security scenario in Pakistan is also a matter of concern for a mega project like the IPI pipeline.
Government sources have also made it clear that although the Left parties, especially the Communist Party of India - Marxist, want the government to go ahead with the project, the UPA will ignore pressure from them in this matter.
After CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury demanded at a press conference, on the eve of President Ahmadinejad's visit, that the government expedite the project, the party's mouthpiece, People's Democracy, said: "This visit by the Iranian president must be utilised to further the Indo-Iranian gas pipeline project.
In fact, if the argument of the protagonists of the Indo-US nuclear deal was based on this question of energy augmentation, then the gas pipeline is the cheapest and the best option for India. The UPA government must proceed with this pipeline deal without any further delays."
The Cabinet minister, however, reacted strongly. "This is the problem with the communists. They don't know where to draw the line. If anything happens in Iran after we make investments, will A K Gopalan Bhawan (the headquarters of the party) compensate the Indian people? It is not a matter of issuing statements sitting in party offices, but a question of an investment decision," he added.
